A few weeks ago I wrote that I went on a book buying binge with the intent of brushing up on my knowledge of cancer prevention. Since then, I have spent my evenings reading The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins.

Weighing in at close to 400 pages, The Food Revolution is no light read. And then there’s Robbins’ preachiness and occasionally maudlin anecdotes to muddle through. If you can get past the obstacles, there is quite a bit of useful information. Robbins did his homework and references his sources like an academic, which he is not. There is too much repetition, though, and I think the book could have been whittled down to half the size.

I will summarize each of the sections so you can decide if you want to investigate further:

Section 1: Your risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases is greatly increased if you eat an animal-based diet. Conversely, a plant based diet has been shown to reduce these risks. I checked one of Robbins’ sources, the American Institute for Cancer Research report titled “Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer“. The scope of this project is impressive. A panel of scientists and reviewers gathered the medical literature over the last few decades and summarized it to 8 key recommendations for preventing cancer. Recommendations #4 and 5: eat a plenty of plant foods and avoid animal foods, respectively. I recommend you read the 12 page summary if you are interested in learning more.

Robbins continues by warning that many food borne pathogens like salmonella originate from animal foods, yet another reason to reduce their consumption if your health is a concern.

Section 2: The factory farm industry is cruel to animals. Duh.

Section 3: The largest polluters of our air, soil and water are the meat and dairy industries. Their impact on our environment doesn’t stop there. Millions of acres of rain forest have been cleared and countless species have gone extinct so that crops to feed meat animals can be grown. This occurs in countries where a large part of the population has barely enough food to live on. So in a sense, the land of the poor is being co-opted to feed the wealthy. Ick.

Section 4: Genetic engineering is scary because no one is doing the proper research to assess it’s impact on native species. Likewise, no one knows if there are any harmful effects that may arise from the consumption of these foods.

Do I believe every word in The Food Revolution? No. While Robbins’ does a thorough job of citing his references, there are a few arguments here and there that seem to be based on speculation rather than hard scientific evidence. Nonetheless, some very good points are made. By reducing your consumption of animal products you substantially reduce your risk of disease and take huge steps towards protecting the environment. I like to think of my approach as “flirting with vegetarianism”. I have reduced my consumption of animal products to a few meals a week. I’m still not certain if I will go 100% vegetarian, but I’m starting down that path. To me, the best form of health insurance is to do whatever I can to reduce my risk of disease. I call it growing my health fund.